Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Peanut was a good dog and a good friend. She just turned 14 years old, which is way up there for a Great Dane. I guess the "mix" part of "Great Dane mix" added to her lifespan.

We got her for free from someone giving away puppies in a Walmart parking lot. She had recently been weaned and her feet were so big she could hardly walk. She tripped everywhere she went. When she was grown she could run as fast as any dog I've seen outside of a racetrack, but she could never accelerate quickly or turn quickly, so cottontails usually evaded her. I remember seeing her catch one once. Another dog was chasing it and it made a sharp turn to avoid the first dog and ended up in Peanut's mouth.

We box trained her as a puppy so she could stay in the house. Pretty soon she was so big she crushed the box but she insisted on sleeping on the flattened remains. One day we threw out the old box and she didn't know what to do.

When she was little puppy she used to like to sit under the coffee table. We made her stay outside for a time while she was growing up (I think we were dealing with a flea problem) and when we let her back in the first thing she did was try to run and dive under the coffee table. Not realizing how much she had grown she banged her head on the side of the table and nearly tipped it over.

One time while we were on vacation it rained a lot. Everything was muddy. When we got home we went into the fenced back yard and Peanut said "hello" by jumping up and putting a giant muddy paw print on my wife's chin.

These pics are all of her later in life because the puppy pics are still on the old computer or on discs. I'll have to get some of those out and post them.

We buried her in the field in front of the house next to the driveway so she can watch over us.

This isn't the first time this has been in the news and the problem seems to be getting worse. Of course "officer safety" trumps all in this nation so if an LEO feels he is in danger from you taking pictures from across the street then he can detain you. I guess he could detain you in the interest of officer safety if you sneezed too close to him.

Be careful what you photograph in public. Big Brother may not like it.

Monday, July 26, 2010

I wondered why one of the forums I frequent has a new restriction on copying and pasting anything from another site, even if the source is given and a link provided to the original. Now I know.

I guess I knew that "newspapers" hated bloggers, and the internet in general. The internet gives people a voice and a means to talk back to the idiots in the LWM and a forum for refuting the nonsense that they spew. That ability to talk back makes them angry. So they look for a way to reassert their supremacy.

I do not think this will work in the long run. The LWM "newspapers" are sort of like a deer that runs away after being shot through the chest - they are finished but they haven't realized it, yet.

I say the LWM is finished, but the federal government could come along and force everyone who has an income in this nation to give them money to keep them afloat. That is a real possibility.

We had a family range day this weekend. Lot's of fun. Lot's of .22 LR ammo was used. My oldest has adopted an old Mossberg M44 US from the CMP. It is one that originally sold for *************************************************

We had 3 chicks hatch Sunday and we have 3 more that have poked little holes in their eggshells but haven't broken out, yet. One of the chicks was having trouble getting out of the shell and I had to chip the shell off and tear the outer membrane. It still couldn't get out after another hour or two so when we decided that the chick was going to die if we didn't do something I took a small pair of scissors and snipped the inner membrane and got it out. That was about 8:00pm Sunday and it was wobbling around on it's own this morning so I guess I'll call that a successful operation.

*************************************************

We seem to have plenty of plum and blueberry jelly and peach preserves. I like that.

*************************************************

When I was a kid I sharpened knives with Arkansas stones. I had several that I got from my dad including a very fine black stone and a translucent ultra-fine stone. They were small for sharpening pocket knives and it took a lot of care to sharpen a larger hunting knife. I still have them somewhere but I can't seem to locate them at the moment. I'll discover them again one of these days. Some years ago I started using a Spyderco Sharpmaker, which uses triangle shaped ceramic rods. I like that because it is quick and easy. However, my impression is that it won't put the same kind of edge on a knife that good Arkansas stones can, so I ordered some larger (6" long) Arkansas stones. I'll keep the Sharpmaker because it is so quick and easy and can make a dull knife sharp enough to use in just a few minutes but I can't wait for the new stones to arrive. Sharpening a knife is like shooting - it is good for the mind, the body and the soul.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Some of the most common operations — including hip replacements and cataract surgery — will be rationed as part of attempts to save billions of pounds, despite government promises that front-line services would be protected.

This isn't a surprise to anyone with a brain. The thing I'm most interested in reading more about is how they will determine who gets the rationed services.

That is actually pretty easy to figure out: Preferred people will get the rationed services. The very rich, families of high government officials, pop culture icons who support the party in power. In England the moslems will probably be preferred people just because the government wouldn't want to deal with riots if they weren't.

I can guess who the preferred people will be, but I'd like to see if the government has the guts to put that information out in black and white.

Here are some of the restrictions:

* Restrictions on some of the most basic and common operations, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic procedures.

* Plans to cut hundreds of thousands of pounds from budgets for the terminally ill, with dying cancer patients to be told to manage their own symptoms if their condition worsens at evenings or weekends.

* The closure of nursing homes for the elderly.

* A reduction in acute hospital beds, including those for the mentally ill, with targets to discourage GPs from sending patients to hospitals and reduce the number of people using accident and emergency departments.

* Tighter rationing of NHS funding for IVF treatment, and for surgery for obesity.

* Thousands of job losses at NHS hospitals, including 500 staff to go at a trust where cancer patients recently suffered delays in diagnosis and treatment because of staff shortages.

* Cost-cutting programmes in paediatric and maternity services, care of the elderly and services that provide respite breaks to long-term carers.

Again, no surprises, but it is nice to have things I've been saying (I among others) confirmed.

Socialized medicine leads to the government having more power. In this case they have the power to decide who gets what kind of health care.

I suspect that there is no private health insurance business in England to take up the slack even if anyone had the money to spend on it after they pay all the socialized medicine taxes. In fact, it may be illegal to have a private health insurance business in England.

All I have to add is that we will face this same thing in the United States of America very soon.

I will go out on a limb by suggesting that preferred people will include members of the SEIU, the New Black Panthers, outspoken homosexuals, the very rich, and families of government officials.

We are in for rough times. Get a physical and try to get any health issues you have taken care of as soon as possible. That is good advice any time but especially now. Another thing you can do is accept the fact that the older people in your life will probably have their health care rationed.

You wanted socialized medicine. Pretty soon you are probably going to have more of it than you really want.

Word broke late last night that Laredo police have requested help from the federal government regarding the incursion by the Los Zetas.

Good luck with help from the US federal government. Hussein isn't worried about people in flyover country, especially compared to future democrat voters.

More:

It appears that the ranch owners have escaped without incident but their ranches remain in the hands of the blood thirsty cartels.

Thank God for that.

The feds must have these people held in "protective" custody somewhere to keep them away from the media.

My favorite line from the article:

The hostile takeover of the ranches has met with silence with local and national media; however sources say they could be waiting to report the stories once the ranches are back in U.S. control.

From Link 2:

The media has been silent on this incident and some law enforcement in the area says that they are furious that the media is not reporting the whole story of the continued violence along the border. Their frustrations are understandable because keeping the truth suppressed continues to hamper law enforcement from receiving the true support they need along the border.

I'm glad I'm as far from the border as I am, but I still think I'm too close. I wonder if the Canadian government will do anything when the Mexican cartels start taking over their territory.

I've got a proposal for the cartels. If they leave American's alone we'll give them Washington, D.C. There would be a pretty good market for their products there.

If anyone can find confirmation of this information please pass it along.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

While John Kerry wants you to pay more in taxes he doesn't seem to think he should have to. This guy who is a member of what is supposedly the party of the little guy doesn't want to pay the MA state taxes on his little boat. Little boat? It's a 76 footer worth millions of dollars.

Poor baby doesn't think he should have to pay taxes on it. Paying taxes if for suckers and peons.

I like being able to avoid taxes. I like buying stuff out of state or from individuals so I can avoid paying taxes. I'd probably better hide my dog after saying that because a SWAT team will probably kick in my doors to collect what I've been holding back.

The reason I'm pointing out Kerry trying to avoid taxes is that he supports higher taxes. For everyone except himself. That is a standard liberal point of view. Kind of like one of the socialists at work who was complaining about how difficult it is to use the pre-tax health savings plan. Socialists shouldn't be in a plan that lets them reduce their taxes.

Kerry likes higher taxes so much he should not only pay the full amount on that boat but he should be paying an extra $1 million per year to the state as a voluntary personal tax increase.

I've got an idea for a new federal law. I don't generally think there should be more federal laws but it is needed in this case. Here is my proposal:

If a congressman or senator votes for a tax increase he must prove that he has paid either an extra 10% of his gross income beyond his regular income tax or 10% of his overall wealth, whichever is greater, every year for the five years preceding the vote. If the congressman or senator cannot provide this proof then his vote in favor of the tax increase is invalid and will not be counted.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to raise my taxes then you need to pay more. A LOT more.

Monday, July 19, 2010

I went out to the farm and picked three buckets of wild plumbs. I came home smelly, exhausted, and scratched. My better half has the much more difficult job of converting them into jelly or something else tasty.

I didn't have the camera when I was picking which is a shame. Only about half the bushes had plums but the ones that produced were heavy with fruit. They looked like bunches of grapes on the limbs. I hope to post pics of the harvest later.

If you go after wild plums you need some basic gear.

buckets

work gloves and heavy clothes including a hat

snake boots or chaps

limb trimmers or some other method of making a path through the thicket

eye protection is a good idea because the limbs will come up and slap you

insect repellent

lots of liquids to drink

sunscreen

My grandfather's method was to back his truck into the thicket as far as he could go (no doubt hoping he didn't get stuck and have to use the tractor to pull it out), then climb into the bed and pick from there. One benefit of that method is that you don't have to carry the buckets back to the truck when they are full. I didn't use that method because I figured that Murphy's law would dictate that the wiring for my tail/brake lights and possibly my brake lines would get snarled on a plum bush and ripped out.

Another entertaining possibility when picking plums is running into wild pigs. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to reduce the local population although they had been rooting around under the bushes. Next time I plan on staying an extra day so I can stake out the place at night after picking. I always drop plenty of plumbs when picking and it is impossible to pick most of them up. Pigs love plums so the one's I drop can become great bait for them. Sausage and wild plums would make a great combination.

When the government forces people with an income to pay for health insurance for other people that don't have private insurance, pretty soon there won't be any private insurance. Companies will drop insurance as a cost saving measure and employees will go on the socialized plan. As more companies drop coverage the private health insurance companies will start going out of business which puts more people out of work and on the socialized plan. Revenue goes down while costs go up. Soon there will be a "crisis". Of course the federal government will be happy to step in and "solve" the problem it created with higher taxes, more regulations, while the quality of care goes down.

There is nothing so bad that a large dose of federal government can't make it worse.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

I can't resist a giveaway, especially ammo, so this one is great for me.

Lucky Gunner Ammo and The Firearm Blog are giving away 1k rounds of .380 ball ammo. This caliber is easier to find than it was for a while but 1000 rounds for free is still the best deal around. If you follow the link to The Firearm Blog you can find instructions on how to enter the contest.

Friday, July 16, 2010

You mean you didn't know that you have a mandatory electronic health record? You may not now but you will. Among other information it will include your body mass index.

From the article:

The obesity-rating regulation states that every American's electronic health record must: “Calculate body mass index. Automatically calculate and display body mass index (BMI) based on a patient’s height and weight.”

Well, isn't that special?

Part of me sees the absolute need for this. When everyone pays for everyone's health care (actually, people with jobs will pay for everyone's health care) then everyone's lifestyle and health is everyone's business.

Maybe this data could be used to determine the kind of health care you will get when you are ill. Should a person who has been grossly obese and smoked for 30 years be as high on the list for a heart transplant as a normal sized person who doesn't smoke?

In case you haven't figured it out I don't actually think the government should be allowed to collect this kind of data. I'm just playing Hussein's advocate, so to speak. When the nation is accelerating towards bankruptcy then we may have to take measures like that to try and push out the date that we have to pay the Piper.

Back to the article:

The law also requires that these electronic health records be available--with appropriate security measures--on a national exchange.

I just love that part about "with appropriate security measures". LOLBIDWTSSATMHO (that is Laughing Out Loud Because I Don't Want To Start Screaming And Tearing My Hair Out). APPROPRIATE SECURITY MEASURES!? Sort of like the security we had surrounding nuclear weapons technology? Like the "security" at commercial airports?

Does anyone believe the government can secure this information?

Even when (NOT if) the data is compromised nobody in the government will be held responsible for the damage, but that breech of security will be used to justify another expansion of the power and size of the federal government.

One thing that is holding the economy down is the uncertainty about what the government will do to us next. This bill isn't helping as far as I can tell. Any time the government does anything people are worried.

This bill would create a "Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection" whatever that is. It sounds frightening to me. Something out of 1984. I'm sure the government will do all sorts of things for us for our own "protection".

From the article:

One of the candidates often mentioned for the top consumer spot is Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor who was among the first to suggest the creation of an agency to safeguard consumers in their financial transactions.

If the part I highlighted in red isn't enough to disqualify her from having any position in government then I don't know what would.

This entire bill is rooted in the idea that the vast majority of people in this nation are too stupid to look after their own affairs. After seeing how many people voluntarily signed up for ARMs to buy more house than they could afford (and paid more for the house than it was worth) there may be some truth to that. However, it is not really the government's job to make financial decisions for people.

Here is another frightening part:

The Fed has until April to derive standards to measure the fairness of fees charged by banks to merchants for customers who use debit cards.

Seems to me that the standard for "fairness" should be that if a bank tries to charge me more for a service than I think it is worth I'll either find another bank or stay at the same bank but not use the service.

I've got a great idea. Why don't we have a new federal bureau that would derive standards to measure the fairness of how new and used car dealers treat customers?

On a more serious note, how about a new federal bureau to derive standards on how fairly the IRS and BATF treat citizens of the United States of America?

Probably the most frightening part of this is contained in this quote of Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd:

"This bill directs the regulators to do things," he said in an interview. "We leave to the regulators how best to achieve the goals, but the goals are clear. Congress is not a regulator."

Like most federal legislation which authorizes someone to create regulations there seems to be no limit on what the regulations do. After this goes horribly wrong congress can sit back and say "It's not our fault. We didn't write the regulations."

Now for comments on another article on this scary bill. Here is link 2.

This one pulls no punches. First paragraph:

Congress approved a rewrite of rules touching every corner of finance, from ATM cards to Wall Street traders, in the biggest expansion of government power over banking and markets since the Depression.

Every time I turn around this administration and this congress are pushing for another expansion into every aspect of our lives. Enough already!!

I've got a new goal for congress:

Don't do ANYTHING!!!

I figure I'll start small and work my way up to the big things like undoing most of the federal laws past over the last century.

I don't think this bill is going to improve anything, except the for the people who are hired by the federal government to design and implement this monstrosity. Those people will get their money from your paycheck.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The director of the nation's immigration enforcement agency says states should not follow Arizona's lead and enact strict new immigration laws because ridding the country of illegal immigrants is the federal government's job.

Director John Morton says he doesn't think 50 different immigration enforcement laws is the answer to the nation's immigration troubles.

Evidently this John Morton is another one who hasn't read the AZ law but wants you to think he's an expert on it. He thinks you are too stupid to know what he's full of.

Are you angry, yet? Will you be able to hold on to that anger until November?

For that matter, will the federal government grant permanent amnesty to anyone that can get across the border by the end of December? That would be one way of "fixing" the AZ law, from the point of view of the current congress and current Presidential administration.

I'll bet if they announced that in July then we could have another 20 million new democrats by New Year's on top of the 20 million we already have here.

Not really much news in that article but I liked one statement in particular:

The root problems of job losses and wage cuts persist, making a sustained U.S. housing recovery elusive.

Did you get that? The housing recovery is elusive. I love that. It sort of rolls off your tongue in such a way that everyone listening is stuck dumb for the moment and by the time they recover you've moved on to something else.

Let me try that out in some other situations.

"Relief from the lion's chomping teeth and slashing claws was elusive."

That doesn't sound so bad. Let me try again.

"The people of New Orleans found frostbite to be elusive."

That sounds pretty good to me. Let me try one that is a little closer to the current economic situation.

"After the rope tightened around his neck the condemned man found oxygen to be elusive."

There was one other interesting statistic that the article threw out and I didn't take the time to try and verify. According to the article one in 78 homes received at least one foreclosure filing in the first six months of this year. They defined foreclosure filings as including notice of default, scheduled auction, and repossession.

A couple of weeks ago we took a road trip and and my better half commented on all the new road signs. Every old sign showing the highway number, speed limit, or warning sign about an upcoming curve had a new sign planted within ten feet of it. We saw a couple of crews out installing the new signs. The old signs weren't damaged that I could see and they still reflected.

I told her it was probably federal money that had to be spent so the budget wouldn't be cut for next year.

According to this article there was one sign put up that cost $10,000. For one sign!!!! The signs I saw weren't so extravagant. They were normal signs but it looked to me like the state was spending a lot of money to replace every sign whether it needed to be replaced or not. This at a time with large budget deficits predicted.

My suspicion is that the money spent on these signs is coming from you and me by way of the federal government and it is specifically for signs. No signs, no money. So the state pays it's sign crews to put up signs.

I've got a great new idea. Why doesn't the federal government pay a bunch of SEIU creeps to go around and break every window in every city and town in the USA? That would stimulate the economy wouldn't it? Maybe while the federal goons are at it they could just burn all the vacant houses to the ground. That would solve the issue we have with surplus housing driving home prices down.

You've heard of sanctuary cities, right? Cities that so love being overrun by illegals that they refuse to do anything to help enforce our immigration laws. The federal government says that is ok while at the same time suing AZ for actually trying to enforce federal laws.

I forgot that it isn't nice to call them "illegal aliens" these days. The proper term is "future democrat voter". Maybe AZ should declare itself to be an illegal alien state. Then they could say "We are just enforcing the immigration laws that the federal government won't enforce."

Here is your link. If I were President I would call the head of ICE and tell him to track down that illegal in the picture shown with that article and have her out of the United States within 24 hours. If that didn't happen and the event wasn't caught on video for distribution to all news networks then that guy would be out of a job. Fired. No resignation accepted. Prohibited from having any job with the federal government.

I guess I don't have to worry about ever being President.

Here is the first paragraph from the article:

A week after suing Arizona and arguing that the state's immigration law creates a patchwork of rules, the Obama administration said it will not go after so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with the federal government on immigration enforcement, on the grounds that they are not as bad as a state that "actively interferes."

That is some doubleplusgood doublethink and doublespeak. Enforcing the law is interfering with the law and not enforcing the law isn't interfering with it.

I've sharpened several of these machetes that I bought during the 4th of July sale. I've been using a Spyderco Sharpmaker. At first it seemed a little awkward because I usually use it to sharpen a 4" blade instead of a 12" or 18" blade, but with a little practice it works ok. I do have to clean the stones a lot more often than when sharpening smaller blades.

I found that one of these machetes had a consistent edge over the entire length of the blade and it sharpened up easily over the whole blade. Two others had dull spots 2" or 3" long on them. On one barong style the dull spot was in the middle of the curve a few inches back from the tip. On a sax style the dull spot was about 3" nearest the handle.

I think they just weren't ground consistently along the edge. With a bit of work they sharpen up nicely. For the price these can't be beat, but I would really like to have a Marine Corpman's knife. I just haven't wanted to spend the ~$100 to get one.

Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff under President Clinton compares the debt this nation is piling up to cancer. I am thinking a freight train coming downhill is closer, but maybe liver or pancreatic cancer would be accurate. Definitely not benign.

This nation has overspent it's way into a huge financial hole. I don't think we can grow our way out of this hole.

First, because the debt scares people. When there seems to be risk of the government declaring bankruptcy most people want their money safe instead of risking it on a possible future business success.

Second, because the actions of government at all levels in this nation scare people. People are willing to gamble with their money when they believe they can accurately assess the risks involved. That requires a stable and consistent playing field. With this congress and this administration there is a proposal for a bunch of new taxes and regulations every week. A person can decide that they can succeed in a certain venture this week but the rules and regulations could change tomorrow so that they will fail. When government gets involved then all bets are off.

Third, because if the economy started to really recover then this congress and this administration would react by saying "Hey, everthing is great so we can increase spending even more" and that sort of thing. Government spending tends to be like highway traffic capacity. No matter how many lanes you add to the road the traffic will increase until the road is over capacity.

The federal and state governments need to take the time to read Dave Ramsey's books. That might prevent the collapse of the government. The decision to only spend what you have, to spend on necessities instead of luxuries, and to keep some in reserve would mean pain for everyone, but I don't see any way around that. If you have ever listened to Mr. Ramsey then you know what I mean. Sometimes people call his show and tell how they gave up their fancy car for a beater, gave up their boat, gave up the wide screen TV, gave up going out to eat every night and took a second or even a third job so that they could pay off some ridiculous debt. It is a painful process but in the end they are free. This nation needs to do that, but I don't think it will happen. The other alternative is for the government to declare bankruptcy. IOW to just come out and say "We aren't paying our debts. Too bad for anyone that holds any of our bonds because they have just become worthless."

The best we personally can do is get out of debt and have a plan B. A plan B for income. A plan B for food, clothing, and shelter. Having a plan C, D, and E wouldn't be a bad idea.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

I have some sympathy for the 17 year old. As for the poor little 38 year old who can't make it on his own, all I have to say is:

GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY!!

This crybaby would be better of in a socialist country so the government could make better people support him. Part of the spy exchange deal should have been that Russia had to take this guy, too, so his mommy could keep taking care of him.

Somehow I suspect that ICE won't go Elian Gonzolas on this loser. Too bad for us.

Friday, July 9, 2010

I heard on the radio there were 50 to 100 arrests. Some stores looted. A lot of places in downtown were boarded up. Funny that the news this morning mentioned that " . . . windows broken last night were boarded up this morning . . . " and that sort of thing. I saw plenty of pics from yesterday showing buildings boarded up then to prevent looting.

Here are some pics of buildings boarded up Thursday before the verdict was read.

I didn't take the pics. They were posted by 44regular on arfcom and I shamelessly borrowed them.

There is so much wrong in this story that I don't know where to begin.

Remember that this could happen near you. Even if you live outside the big city you probably go into town once in a while, right? Best pay attention to the news and make sure you avoid this kind of situation.

In Oakland they have something called a "Specialized Multi-Agency Response Team" or SMART search. Basically, building inspectors, fire safety inspectors and police come into your apartment without consent or a warrant and search it.

This is United States of America, where your home is . . . well . . . it is whatever the government allows on any given day.

Monday, July 5, 2010

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is repeating a pattern that appeared just before markets fell during the Great Depression, Daryl Guppy, CEO at Guppytraders.com, told CNBC Monday.

From the second article:

Let us be honest. The US is still trapped in depression a full 18 months into zero interest rates, quantitative easing (QE), and fiscal stimulus that has pushed the budget deficit above 10pc of GDP.

The share of the US working-age population with jobs in June actually fell from 58.7pc to 58.5pc. This is the real stress indicator. The ratio was 63pc three years ago. Eight million jobs have been lost.

The average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks. Nothing like this has been seen before in the post-war era. Jeff Weninger, of Harris Private Bank, said this compares with a peak of 21.2 weeks in the Volcker recession of the early 1980s.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

I recently took advantage of the 4th of July sale at Cold Steel. I felt like I was lacking in fixed blade knives so I picked up a few machetes and some other knives, all of them from the "economy" end of the Cold Steel line. If you have any of these you will probably agree that the grips leave something to be desired, because they are slippery to the point of being dangerous.

Here is a pick of the grip on one. I don't know how anyone could get a grip on that. I have a couple of knives that I've been using for cleaning game and both of them have more traction when covered with blood than this does clean and dry.

I thought I could improve them without spending much more money on them. My first attempt was to use grip tape.

Grip tape works ok on the straight parts of the grip but didn't seem to stay well on the curves. Then, after the tape comes off it leaves a sticky residue which gets on your hands and picks up all kinds of dirt.

There has to be a better way and I think I found it. I borrowed a method used to modify the grips on Glocks. I probably won't be trying this on $400+ handguns but on a I used the wide flat tip intended for soldering large connections that require a lot of heat. Here is a closeup of it. You could use the standard pointed tip just as well but it would probably take more time.Here is what the grip looked like when I first started.Here are some pics of a couple of these after I finished.

Now for a couple of details.

First, do this in a well ventilated area. The fumes are probably hazardous and they don't smell good.

Second, be careful with the soldering iron. Obviously, it is hot and can burn you badly. Also, the material on the grip can melt and it can stick to your skin and burn you. Use the same common sense and caution that you use when soldering wires and you will be fine. I recommend eye protection.

Third, be careful of the temperature on the soldering iron. Be sure to let the temperature stabilize before you start. As the temp changes the effect on the grip changes. The iron I used was inexpensive and does not have adjustable temperature. When this iron stabilized it was a little hotter than I think would be ideal. The ideal temp depends on how fast you operate and for my speed the iron was too hot and a couple of times I got the material too hot and it made strings. If that happens then move to a different area on the grip but don't touch what you just worked on or you will mash the grooves and have to do it again.

Forth, when you finish the grips will probably be too rough and will hurt your hands. I took a small piece of sand paper and went over them when I was finished. It didn't take much. I just handled the knife, then sanded a little, and handled it again until if felt right.

These knives are much easier to handle now and I don't have to worry about one slipping when I open up an animal and stick the knife inside to take out the organs.

Overall I'm pleased with the results of my efforts.

The only problem I see is that the scabbards were intended for use with knives that have slick grips. The rough grip snags on the inside of the scabbard and pulls it out. You can see the results here.

I haven't come up with a solution for this yet. Perhaps using the soldering iron to melt the cover onto the lining. Shoe Goo might be another solution.

I will probably give a review of these knives in the future after I've had a chance to use them a bit.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

— Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation oflarge districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.

They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare,

That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

— And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Basically the DHS issued a warning to law enforcement agencies that they believe terrorists have a renewed interest in planting bombs in luggage among other places.

A bomb may never be set off but we will all pay the price.

For that matter there doesn't have to be a bomb. Just continuous threats phoned or emailed to airlines or authorities. Fake threats don't cost anything and don't have to be directed at airlines. Malls, concerts, movie theaters, parades, sporting events, and almost anything else would be shut down as certainly as an airport would be.

The creeps could make it more realistic. Some camel jockey could pull the guts out of an old stereo or PC that he found in a dumpster, add a few pieces of PVC pipe, wrap the mess of junk in a walmart bag and drop it at almost any public place. Then use a prepaid phone to call in a threat. If the perp wants to spend even less money he could ask to borrow a phone in a store claiming that his phone battery died and he needs to call his wife and tell her to pick up the kids from school or whatever. If you did that at a big concert or sporting event there really could be casualties if the crowd panicked trying to get out.

If these wackos are ever successful at setting off a bomb in the checked baggage of an airline I wonder what the chances are that they will come into this country illegally across the southern border.

With the air quality in the Gulf region from the BP spill and the chemicals they've been pouring into the spill I can't imagine that these refineries would have a measurable impact. I suspect that part of this may involve people in the federal government wanting to show how vital their jobs are.